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Building Your First Power BI Report

Step-by-step: connect data, build charts, add slicers, and create your first complete report

Now that you understand the interface, Power Query, and data modelling basics — it is time to build your first report. This tutorial walks you through a complete report from scratch: connecting to data, setting up the model, and building an interactive sales dashboard. A finished Power BI report page has three elements working together: visuals (charts, tables, cards), slicers (filters the user controls), and a layout (everything arranged to tell a story). Let us build all three.

Example

Build a Sales Dashboard step by step
STEP 1 — GET DATA
Home → Get Data → Excel Workbook
Select your sales file → Transform Data
In Power Query: verify data types → Close & Apply

STEP 2 — ADD A CARD VISUAL (Total Sales)
Click blank canvas area
Visualisations pane → Card icon (the number card)
From Fields pane: drag "Amount" column into the card
It shows sum automatically → rename: "Total Sales"

STEP 3 — ADD A BAR CHART (Sales by Region)
Click blank canvas → Bar chart icon
Axis field well: drag "Region"
Values field well: drag "Amount"
Power BI aggregates automatically → shows bars per region

STEP 4 — ADD A LINE CHART (Sales Over Time)
Click blank canvas → Line chart icon
X-axis: drag "Date" column
Y-axis: drag "Amount"
Power BI auto-creates year/month/day hierarchy

STEP 5 — ADD A SLICER (Filter by Category)
Insert → Slicer
Field: drag "Category"
Now clicking a category filters ALL other visuals

STEP 6 — FORMAT
Select each visual → Format pane (paint roller icon)
Add title, change colours, adjust font sizes
Report theme: View → Themes → choose a preset
💡 Slicers are the most powerful element — one slicer filters all visuals on the page automatically.

Key Points

  • ✓Click blank canvas area before adding each visual — otherwise you edit the selected one
  • ✓Drag fields from the Fields pane into visual field wells — or click a field to add it to the selected visual
  • ✓Slicers filter all visuals on the page by default — no DAX needed
  • ✓Format pane (paint roller) controls colours, titles, axes, borders, and backgrounds
  • ✓Ctrl+Z undoes the last action — use it freely when experimenting

Practice Question

You added a Slicer for "Region" to your report page. A user selects "Delhi" in the slicer. What happens to the other visuals on the same page?

Related Topics

Power BI Visualisations OverviewEvery chart type in Power BI, what it is best for, and when to use whichSlicers and Filters in Power BIAdd slicers and configure the filter pane to let users explore data interactivelyBar and Column ChartsBuild and format bar and column charts — the most-used visuals in business dashboards